Our vision

We have a vision to build a community of homes for residents and parents of residents of Oakington & Westwick and surrounding villages.

Our key aims are:

1 A retirement community located geographically within the Oakington & Westwick Parish 

We aim to enable village residents to retire to sheltered or care-supported accommodation within their village.

Covid has highlighted the need for high quality spaces for the more ‘mature’ residents of Oakington & Westwick which are located centrally to benefit from the support of friends and family nearby. Many of us love the village, the clubs, facilities and our friendship networks and wish to remain here into our twilight years. We are very aware we under-occupy large family homes which are desperately needed to keep the village young, but similarly feel there are no homes which suit our requirements or are attractive enough to encourage us to move and downsize. 

2 A retirement community connected with the village community

We are aiming at an active, creative, secure and affordable retirement lifestyle facility.

We believe it is vital to the well-being and mental health of the elderly that they remain well connected with younger residents.

To this end we aim to establish a social hub in the retirement community:

Indoor facilities including cafeteria, meeting rooms, lounge, craft room, workshop, games rooms

Outdoor facilities including raised flower and vegetable beds, bowling green, green open spaces, hard paths for wheelchairs

3 A wide range of shelter and care-supported accommodation

We are well aware that needs change with age.

We want to have this full range of care facilities on one site, to avoid late-in-life relocation or couples having to be split up or residents having to move as their care needs change with aging.

We want to build an inclusive retirement community that enables the elderly to remain active in village life. So we see this facility offering all residents a full range of retirement care, from initial, warden-supported, independent housing for couples and singles to greater levels of care as needed, right through to full nursing care. 

We aim to build houses, social space, paths, covered wheelchair-friendly walkways, all in such a way as to enable every resident, even those with high-end care needs to still access social hub facilities and therefore to retain community connections.

4 A park setting

We aim to protect the most vulnerable in a safe, balanced environment that will offer plenty of space for recreation, indoors and out, wheelchair-friendly paths, open green spaces, providing age-friendly homes to enable people to live independently, stay connected and have choices and control of their lives: all with a sensitivity to mental health issues.

To achieve this, we plan on building this retirement facility in a countryside, park-like setting.

Because all suitable sites in the Oakington & Westwick parish lie partly in the flood plain, we plan to build a lake as part of the park setting which will:

• make excellent use of a site partly in flood plain

• provide material to lift up some of site above flood plain

• readily provids flood attenuation

• increase bio-diversity

• add significantly to recreational aspects of the retirement facility providing, for example, attractive outdoor spaces for walking and socialising and fishing

Hence the name:
Oakington Retirement Community (ORC)

The ORC will be operated as a not-for-profit organisation as a Charity Incoporated Organisation.

We welcome participation of fellow villagers in the planning and design of an inclusive community: see contact page.

Our development will meet the following criteria for exception planning permission:

• Affordable housing elements for the elderly, care workers and young people.

• The site will be well related to the village which offers a range of services and facilities, with good accessibility by foot/cycle to those facilities.

• No significant harm would be caused to the character or setting of the settlement and the surrounding countryside.

• The scale of the scheme will be appropriate to the location and the level of identified local affordable housing need.

• The scheme incorporates a range of dwelling sizes, types and tenures appropriate to identified local need.

• The development is initiated by, and will be led by, a Community Land Trust and the scheme has general community support, with evidence of meaningful public engagement: we will commission ACRE to conduct a needs survey as part of our consultation with the local community.

• We will demonstrate that the scheme will be well managed and financially viable over the long-term and that any benefits provided by the scheme can be retained by the local community in perpetuity.